Forget
the movie version of Judge Dredd which Hollywood took
its dreaded liberties with. The comic book version
of Dredd is nothing like the Stallone characterization.
The "fantasy" character has more personality
and depth than the real Stallone could ever hope to
have. Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death remains true to
the comic book scenario in theory but unfortunately
the gameplay fails to deliver an experience worthy
of his true heritage.

I
might as well get to the problems because they are
glaring. No use in reading the entire review because
if you can't live with these flaws you're just not
going to enjoy playing the game. First of all the
plot is not bad but the storyline fails to support
it any further other than just explaining the premise
for each level. You would think that with all the
time and expense of creating a game based on such
a rich sci-fi universe that a more compelling and
deeper story would be of prime consideration. It starts
out good but fails to evolve.

In
a brief overview, events take place in the 25th century.
The world has become a much more dangerous place in
terms of criminals and other forms of low life - including
"no life." To deal with these threats more
effectively, judges are given the power of the police,
jury and executioner. They apprehend criminals, try
them immediately and dispense justice which in many
cases involves execution on the spot. In this game,
the most famous judge, Judge Dredd tackles the Dark
Judges and Judge Death who are on a killing spree
maintaining that living beings are prone to sin therefore
they are inherently evil. Sounds good to me. I like
this premise but it doesn't go much further than that.
What we're treated to for the duration of the game
is a generic, first-person shooting gallery.

It
appears as though the gameplay was given the same
consideration as the storyline. It's a shame that
the entire justice process wasn't explored in more
detail. We are encouraged to arrest, try and execute
villains but we don't get to see them committing offenses
where we can make such calls on our own. Instead we
have to approach people and check them out to see
if they are wanted. A Law Meter fills when we fulfill
our duty honorably. Any unlawful conduct will drain
the meter. It's a nice touch but it doesn't go deep
enough to become an integral part of the gameplay.

The
world of the future is not very populated or so it
seems. The streets and buildings are virtually empty.
We could have done with some ambient pedestrians to
flesh things out a little. Things are even sparse
concerning the enemies. You have to do a lot of wandering
around before you trigger some action. And you're
not really wandering in the exploring sense because
the game is very linear. It's just that the paths
you're sent down aren't all that exciting. When you
finally encounter some enemies you'll also be confronted
with an impotent AI. The bad guys consist of various
monstrous incarnates such as zombies, vampires and
other undead entities not to mention the Dark Judges.
Their attack patterns for the most part consist of
walking towards you in a straight line. At least your
weapons are equally impotent to keep things somewhat
balanced.

Even
a grenade tossed directly into the path of a creature
can sometimes fail to have an effect while other creatures
are blown away with a simple bullet. It's difficult
to ascertain what weapon to use in what situation.

The
Arcade mode does away with the story and just lets
you have fun shooting things which is the only thing
this game does well. Stripped of its pretensions,
Dredd vs. Death makes a decent arcade shooter but
it's the kind of game that should be made available
for free in a cereal box. Think a poor man's version
of House of the Dead.

The
architecture of the city looks as though one person
designed it all. There's little variety. The voice
acting is about as bad as you would expect and the
music tries too hard to sound important, as though
it's compensating for the poor voice acting.

I
have the game in question in my possession. Upon examining
the evidence I hereby decree Dredd vs. Death to be
an inferior product. My ruling is that the game should
be executed. Should it survive a cycle in the dishwasher
it will subsequently be sent to the clothes washer
and then the dryer. Whereupon if it is still deemed
in reasonable condition it will be placed on a plate
and subjected to three minutes in the microwave oven,
after which the liquefied residue will be poured down
the toilet where it belongs.

Preview
by Vaughn

Whew!
For a minute there I thought the title said "Judd
Hirsch"! Mind you, considering the last few Judge
Dredd games have been pitiful, maybe a game based
on Taxi's Alex Reiger wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Judge
Dredd is one of those characters that just never caught
on. While the concept is cool - in the future the
streets will be protected by Judges who become Judge,
Jury and Executioner all wrapped into one due to a
lack of bureaucratic red tape - pop culture just seemed
to always be one step ahead of the Mrs. Dredd's prodigal
son. Heck, not even a movie starring Sly Stallone
could cement this character into the spotlight for
an extended period of time. Hmm...that might have
been the problem in the first place.....

If
you are a Dredd fan than chances are you've been waiting
- well let's not beat around the obvious - forever
for a good Judge Dredd game. We can't even tell you
if this FPS is going to be worth your time or not,
but initial reports from those who have played the
import version aren't very kind to it. Jeez, what
were the chances of that? Anyway let's not get hasty.
Let's be professional and wait until it's released
before we attack the final product with our biting
sarcastic know-it-all comments, as if the idiots working
on CCC could do any better...

Story:

Welcome
to Mega-City One, a city of over 400 million people
- every one of them a potential criminal. It is the
third decade of the 22nd Century, unemployment is
widespread, boredom is universal and only the Judges
can prevent total anarchy. Empowered to dispense instant
justice, they are Judge, Jury and Executioner all
in one.

Features:

11
Chapters of first-person law-bringing! Be the judge,
jury, and executioner of Mega-City One's scum!

A
horde or gib-inducing weaponry like the the lawgiver
- equip it with incendiary bullets, armor piercers,
stun gas grenades, ricochet rounds and more!

Over
50 unique characters; face zombies, undead judges,
wraiths, crooks and demons as you blast your way
to justice